26 T roadster pickup project

Old Blue · June 01, 2010, 12:46:43 AM

I've been building in earnest.

I widened the rear of the tub and made it blend in with the sides of the body.

Then I reshaped the top edge of the rear of the tub to match the sides.

After that I started fabbing the side rails from 2x6x1/8" tubing. I cut a 32 style reveal into the rails and curved them to match the slight curve of the T body.

Then I pinched them at the cowl and ran them forward to the front crossmember.

The axle will sit out front slightly and it will be sprung off the bones which I am fabricating.

It will have a 29 smooth grille shell.

I have the complete 72 Maverick 302-C4 -8" from my donor car previously posted.

Here are a few pics.
Larry.

enjenjo · June 01, 2010, 01:41:39 AM

How about some details on the reveal in the frame? Like how you did it.

phat46 · June 01, 2010, 07:51:24 AM

Nice work!

butch27 · June 01, 2010, 10:27:42 AM

The front crossmember/spring perch is the way "Bird" "T"s were built. Nice

Old Blue · June 01, 2010, 11:37:07 AM

Quote from: "enjenjo"How about some details on the reveal in the frame? Like how you did it.

The rerveal was done by printing off a full sized template for the 32 frame

Then I traced the pattern of the reveal on the tubing and cut it with a zip blade for the straight section and a metal blade on the jigsaw for the curved section.

The side is then pressed in with a piece of square tubing and big c -clamps. Once the sides are squeezed down a little more than 1/4" then you can pound down the bottom lip to meet it.

I used a piece of 1/2" x2 flat bar ground smooth for doing this along with a 6 pound hammer.

Just work along the rail a little at a time and having the rail clamped to the table helps too. The bottom lip is stubborn to fold in, but it can be done.

A little heat was needed to form the rounded lip where the reveal curves up the frame rail and at the rear of the reveal as well as the 1/8" wall just wants to collapse without it.

After that a little welding to close the seam and some grinding.

The rails will be curved the wrong way after that as the welding on one side pulls the rail.

A few slices with a zip blade and re-welding brings them back into line.

Quite a bit of work, but I think they look nice.

enjenjo · June 01, 2010, 12:14:17 PM

Thanks for the info. There are a couple ways I have seen this done, I wondered how you went about it.

Old Blue · September 10, 2011, 10:53:49 PM

If anyone is interested here is roughly where she sits today.

Coming along going to have the engine built this winter ( 57-312 Y block), C4 transmission next week.

Going to fab a 3' pickup bed soon.

Using a narrowed dodge minivan seat.

Larry

jaybee · September 11, 2011, 08:37:04 PM

Looking good. A lot of T bucket frames look a little, well, flexy...looks like you've got the cure.

chimp koose · September 12, 2011, 01:12:03 AM

Wow thats quite a bit of work but well worth the effort.The 32 styled rails will add to a bit of a" smoothy" look to the car as will the front crossmember and the A rad shell. hood? or no. With tri-power Y block ,exposed engine will be an attention getter.

Old Blue · September 12, 2011, 05:06:21 PM

Quote from: "chimp koose"Wow thats quite a bit of work but well worth the effort.The 32 styled rails will add to a bit of a" smoothy" look to the car as will the front crossmember and the A rad shell. hood? or no. With tri-power Y block ,exposed engine will be an attention getter.

I may build a hood eventually. So far maybe just a hood top if I want to run in the rain.

It will be fenderless however so not too much of that unless I'm caught out in it

I will be building lakes style headers routed to undercar exhaust as well.

kb426 · September 13, 2011, 06:39:01 PM

I like what you're doing. What is the rest of the suspension going to be?

Old Blue · September 13, 2011, 09:59:47 PM

Quote from: "kb426"I like what you're doing. What is the rest of the suspension going to be?

I've built a sort of triangulated 4 bar style rear suspension. The rear wishbones form the bottom links and as you can see the top bars mount off the top of the 8" maverick rear.

All bushings are urethane. I have TCI All American coil overs for the rear.

jaybee · September 14, 2011, 07:44:12 AM

I like what you've done there. Looks like split wishbones but it's really a triangulated four link. Your brackets are sturdy and do a nice job of hiding the fact that it's articulated, necessary to keep your four link from binding.

Old Blue · September 15, 2011, 01:01:47 AM

Quote from: "jaybee"I like what you've done there. Looks like split wishbones but it's really a triangulated four link. Your brackets are sturdy and do a nice job of hiding the fact that it's articulated, necessary to keep your four link from binding.

Thanks, it took a little thought to come up with the design. I actually built another style setup first and didn't like it so it was scrapped and I started over.

I wanted the rear lower links to look like wishbones and mount outside the frame rails to mimic the wishbones I fabricated for the front.

I also wanted the suspension to work properly too in the articulation with the coil overs for a decent ride.